Semiconductor integrated circuit devices are getting larger because they incorporate a number of various types of circuits on a single chip. In order to accommodate all of the various circuits on a single chip, the feature size of the various elements forming the circuit are becoming smaller. Thus, the feature size of these integrated circuits are scaling into the deep submicron range. For such sizes, the power supply voltages are reaching towards the sub-one volt level, and clock speeds are scheduled to exceed one Gigahertz. For very large integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor, the power supply current is expected to be many tens of amperes. To provide this type of power from off chip is very difficult and requires a large number of power and ground pads (ports) around the chip. Also, distributing the current on chip from the large number of power and ground pads requires many relatively wide and thick metal conductors to prevent the significant high resistance losses which could ultimately limit the device performance.